No sooner than announced, show #27, Prof. Emeritus Richard A. Lanham of UCLA, discussing his book “The Economics of Attention,” and #28, Julian Dibbell, discussing his book “Play Money, Or, How I Quit My Job and Struck It Rich In Virtual Loot Farming, are posted.
Prof. Lanham was an excellent guest, and, as I discussed on the show, I commend you to check out his “background conversations” in his book. These are the “backstories” of his book, and discuss numerous primary and secondary sources that he utilized in researching and writing his book. A testimony to the usefulness of these “conversations” is that I have acquired at least eight of the books that he mentioned. It is a fascinating book and well worth your time.
A different but no less interesting guest was Julian Dibbell. His book is a great primer on virtual worlds, and although we did not discuss them on the show, he identifies many interesting characters as he winds his way through Ultima Online. His take on the economics of these worlds is also notable, and my attempt to explore some of these economic concepts in some detail on the show reflects his focus.
I hope that you enjoy both shows.
Finally, a program note: those that listen to the show live on KZSU-FM, Wednesdays from 5-6 PM PST, know that I play music on the live show. I usually pick songs that in some way match the theme or a particular topic of the show, generally based upon lyrics and almost always with a humorous bent (based upon my somewhat obtuse sense of humor), and I have a lot of fun choosing the right songs for the shows. For example, I chose R.E.M.’s “Gardening at Night” for the portion of Julian Dibbell’s show when we discussed virtual “gold farming;” such is my sense of humor and fun.
Unfortunately, as I discuss under the heading “Listen,” United States copyright law prevents me from replicating the music on the podcast. But, I am aware of no US intellectual property law that prevents me from listing the playlists for each show [if anyone is aware of such law, please let me know!]. Thus, I will list the playlist for each show as they are posted, for those that are interested. If you can’t listen live, the truly industrious can replicate the glory of the live show by placing (or imagining) each song in each gap: song (1) at the beginning of the show, (2) before the interview begins, (3) at the bottom of the hour, (4) at the end of the interview, and return to (1) at the end. Especially for music fans, I hope that you find the playlists at least amusing (especially if you figure out the connection between the lyrics/title and the topic), if not integral to following the interview.
So, here’s the playlists (in song name/artist/album format):
Show #27, Prof. Richard Lanham
(1) Ignoreland/R.E.M./Automatic For The People
(2) Pretzel Logic/Steely Dan/Pretzel Logic
(3) Old England/The Waterboys/This Is The Sea
(4) One Thing Leads to Another/The Fixx/Reach the Beach
Show #28, Julian Dibbell
(1) Synchronicity 2/The Police/Synchronicity (Remastered)
(2) Pay Me My Money Down/Bruce Springsteen/We Shall Overcome – The Seeger Sessions
(3) Easy Money/Lowell George/Thanks I’ll Eat It Here
(4) Gardening At Night (Different Vocal Mix)/R.E.M./Eponymous
If anyone has any music suggestions for future guests, please let me know! Enjoy!
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